Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) has said it will hold a rally in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır on January 4 to demand the release of jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, the Anka news agency reported.
The rally will take place in İstasyon Square and is being organized under the leadership of the DEM Party, according to a statement read at a press conference in Diyarbakır’s Sur district on Wednesday.
The briefing was attended by DEM Party Co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan, Democratic Regions Party Co-chair Keskin Bayındır, Diyarbakır Mayor Ayşe Serra Bucak Küçük, DEM Party lawmakers and local officials.
The call for participation was read out by Reşo Kurtalan, a member of the DEM Party Youth Assembly, who said the rally would focus on Öcalan’s “physical freedom.”
Calls for Öcalan’s release, who has been held in a prison on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara since 1999, have increased amid ongoing peace talks with the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
Eş Genel Başkanımız Tuncer Bakırhan'ın katılımıyla Umut Hakkı ile ilgili düzenlenen basın toplantısındayız https://t.co/CIEOmYbhLl
— DEM Parti (@DEMGenelMerkezi) December 17, 2025
Kurtalan said Öcalan’s role in the peace process required his prison conditions to be reassessed and called on the public to join the rally to press for his release.
The renewed peace process with the PKK was initiated in October 2024 by far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, a key government ally. Bahçeli publicly called on Öcalan to urge the militant group to lay down its arms.
He said Öcalan could benefit from the “right to hope” if he renounced terrorism and called on the PKK to lay down its weapons. Öcalan responded in February with a message calling on the PKK to disarm and disband.
The PKK decided in May to disband, disarm and end its armed campaign, saying it “has completed its historic mission” in line with Öcalan’s call.
Thirty PKK militants burned their weapons in a ceremony in northern Iraq in July, marking a symbolic first step towards ending the decades-long conflict with Turkey in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.
What is the ‘right to hope’?
The “right to hope” refers to the legal principle that allows a prisoner’s conditional release to be considered after serving part of their sentence, based on good behavior and other criteria set by law. It aims to encourage rehabilitation and reintegration rather than permanent exclusion from society.
The concept was solidified in the 2013 European Court of Human Rights judgment in Vinter and Others v. the United Kingdom, which held that life sentences must be subject to review after no more than 25 years, ensuring that prisoners have a genuine possibility of release.
The ruling has since guided human rights standards across Europe. However, Turkey’s penal code does not currently allow sentence reviews or parole for those serving aggravated life sentences, effectively denying them any prospect of release.